It’s rare these days for something that happened nearly three decades ago to find a place in current United Methodist thinking, especially given the warp-speed changes that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is imposing on the church and the world. However, when something as valuable as the United Methodist’s official document on mission theology stands the test of time, it’s definitely worth a closer look.
Bishop Emerson Colaw
The late Bishop Emerson S. Colaw led the writing team that crafted the United Methodist mission theology statement, "Grace Upon Grace." (Photo Courtesy Minnesota Annual Conference)
Right up front, I have to acknowledge that I have a great affection for the document, “Grace Upon Grace.” Reporting on the document’s consideration by the 1988 General Conference was my first major assignment for the United Methodist Reporter, and I dug into it with all the apprehension and determination of a rookie needing to make good. I interviewed Bishop Emerson Colaw, chair of the writing team, and scrutinized the text minutely. I wasn’t then schooled enough in either theology or church politics to understands how critical its adoption was to the UMC’s identity and purpose.
What I did come to know then, and can reflect upon again today, was the beauty of its language and the vivid portrait it paints of the Wesleyan concept of grace. Compared to the sin-and-punishment focus of many other denominations, the idea that God uses grace to save individual human lives as well as entire communities remains a staggering concept.
In addition to the document’s inherent value, our tremendous need of grace in the midst of our current global anguish makes me commend the reappraisal of “Grace Upon Grace” by United Methodist Professors of Mission and other theologians. The series of some 45 posts by more than 30 authors was the the first major project of the blog, UM & Global. We’ve republished many of their essays on United Methodist Insight (see links below).
In addition to harvesting the richness of “Grace Upon Grace,” the series introduced United Methodists to both the professional organization of mission scholars and to its blogmaster, Dr. David W. Scott. Since then, UM & Global has grown to become one of the most influential platforms across United Methodism, as Dr. Scott, now mission theologian of the General Board of Global Ministries, and other scholars have explored some of the crucial issues facing the worldwide denomination.
As David puts it in a post, the reappraisal of “Grace Upon Grace” upon its 25th anniversary allowed scholars “to determine what held up and what had shifted within the realm of missiological thinking.” While some specifics have changed because of events or altered contexts, the core of “Grace Upon Grace” remains a masterpiece of Methodist thought. Consider this excerpt from the introduction:
“Grace has been the consistent dominating motif in our considerations. The Bible is supremely the story of God’s way in the world—God who is grace and whose way is grace. Historically, the theme of grace is of particular significance for United Methodists who seek a clearer sense of identity and calling as we move into a third century. The various traditions now constituting The United Methodist Church were primarily Anglican (Wesley), Reformed (Otterbein), evangelical, and pietist but they were also debtors to wider Christian influences. While the traditions had distinctive differences, they shared in common a view of divine grace, though variously expressed, which was three-fold: God’s grace goes before us (provenience), God’s grace comes among us uniquely in the person of Jesus Christ (justification), and God’s grace abides with us restoring our lives to an unrelenting love for God and neighbor (sanctification). God’s saving grace revealed in Jesus Christ is not three but one. The triune God is grace who in Christ and through the Holy Spirit prepares, saves, and makes a new people. Our traditions were united in proclaiming this one Christ, one grace, one mission as Holy Scripture testifies.”
How different this understanding is from the sin-and-punishment model of other theologies! At the time of the document’s presentation, Bishop Colaw stressed that this concept of grace not only was uniquely Methodist, but also supremely “winsome” (today we’d say “inviting”). More than once, Bishop Colaw told how on an airplane flight, his seat companion was moved to tears by reading the introduction to “Grace Upon Grace.” Bishop Colaw said his companion, a business executive who professed to be an atheist, told him that he had never before heard God described in so loving a way. The businessman added that he would consider joining a church that preached and practiced “Grace Upon Grace.”
I believe that the compilation issued by UM & Global will benefit both The United Methodist Church and the hurting world it seeks to serve. These days the UMC needs grace as much (if not more) as the world around it. We need to be reminded of who we are as people wooed to faith by grace, convinced of our need for God by grace, and continuously refined to embody grace so that the world might believe.
The refusal to include “Grace Upon Grace” in the Book of Discipline was a major blow to its authors, who saw the document as foundational for the UMC. I have wondered many times over the past three decades how different United Methodist discussions on many topics might have been if “Grace Upon Grace” hadn’t been sidelined. Fortunately, Dr. Scott has organized the “Grace Upon Grace” collection to include discussion questions, making it suitable for study by groups from seminarians to Sunday school classes. His questions include an invitation to ponder whether the document ought to be elevated to the status of our other theological statements, “By Water and the Spirit” on baptism and “This Holy Mystery” on Holy Communion.
Personally, I believe “Grace Upon Grace” deserves to be lifted in importance and updated, based on the UM & Global appraisals, to serve our present age. More than anything, “Grace Upon Grace” offers United Methodists a vision of what grace-filled life is like.
We’re sorely in need of such a vision now. Just as God restored the Ten Commandments after Moses broke them in anger, and as the sacred books of the Temple were discovered after it was ransacked, we have this treasure languishing among the broken pieces of a dying denomination, waiting for us to reclaim it. United Methodist Professors of Mission, through its UM & Global blog, have given us the opportunity to resurrect a vision of God’s grace that turns lives around – including that of institutions. Let’s not waste it.
Here is the link to the file: Grace Upon Grace Commentary
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.